It's getting to be the time of the month when we watch our status bars with increasing intensity. Monthly security patches are all well and good, but this time we're also expecting Google devices (including the Pixel) to be bumped up to Android 7.1.1. Verizon has posted some details of the NMF26O update, which should start rolling out today. We believe this may be 7.1.1.

Over the past couple of years, we've seen many iterations on the personal safety app, but the gist has always remained the same: choose a few persons you trust to share your location with all the time, or at least when you feel the need or they request it. Now Google is releasing its own official take on the matter, Trusted Contacts, and part of me is wishing this app or its functionality at least becomes integrated in all Android phones from now on.

CyanogenMod is virtually the best-known custom ROM out there, and for good reason: it brings the newest version of Android to devices that would otherwise have to wait much longer to receive it, or would never receive it at all. This week, quite a few popular devices have received CyanogenMod 14.1, which is based on Android 7.1 Nougat.

On paper, Little Briar Rose isn't anything particularly exciting. It's a competent side-scrolling adventure title, a rookie effort from developer Elf Games, that retells the Grimm fairy tale of the same name. But the game's visuals, painstakingly crafted to look like an animated stained glass window on every frame, are downright breathtaking. In a sea of pixelated graphics and safe me-too styles, Little Briar Rose is a breath of fresh air.

Motorola's latest Moto Z flagship phones are modular, designed to accommodate add-on modules that snap to the back of their cases for extra battery life, more complex camera modules, pico projectors, et cetera. Critical and consumer response to the change has been mixed, as it was for LG's modular G5 designs. But in a recent meeting with technology journalists, the Lenovo subsidiary doubled down on the modular approach. Motorola committed to at least 12 new Moto Mod add-on products per year.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may have come and gone, but tons of great deals are still out there. Case in point: ASUS's photography-oriented ZenFone Zoom is on sale from both B&H and Newegg for $199. That's the same deal that ASUS offered on Black Friday, and a whopping $200 off its MSRP of $399, effectively making the phone half-price.

The Nucleus Anywhere Intercom is one of many modern takes on the classic intercom. Instead of wiring microphones and speakers through your walls, the Nucleus Anywhere uses your home's Wi-Fi network to connect all the rooms in your house to each other. Now you can get a two-pack for just $298 ($100 off the normal price) if you order it through Alexa.

The market for wireless noise canceling headphones has been booming over the past couple of years. One day, we were struggling to find one pair of headphones that offered both Bluetooth connectivity and noise cancelation, the next there were more choices than we could fit in one Amazon result page. Plantronics, Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, B&O, and more brands are coming on the market with their own take on the matter and the options can be a little confusing for everyone.

Do you go for the trusted noise cancelation of the $349 Bose Quiet Comfort 35, pay the extravagant sum of $499 to get a new Beoplay H9, believe the hype over the $399 Sony MDR1000X, or prefer the well-known $350-400 Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 or its newer offering, the $399 Sennheiser PXC 550?